The Masters Tournament: Expert Picks

Tournament Information

The Masters Tournament
Date: November 15^th
Course: August National Golf Club
Purse: $11.5MM ($2MM to winner)
2020 Winner: Tiger Woods (-13)
OWGR Points: 100

Course

Augusta National Golf Club — Founded in 1933, this private course holds a length of 7.768 yards as a par 72 with a course rating of 78.1 and a slope rating of 137. Amen Corner (11th , 12th and 13th holes), Rae’s Creek, Ike’s Pond, so many fun features to a bucolic and scenic course. As most of you know the greens are lightning quick and yet the rough is not so rough but instead a slightly longer growing fairway. Potentially the most famous American course, it always leads to a wonderful week of golf.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

My Starting 4

Rickie Fowler (first selection this year) — Fowler is the ONLY player who has three consecutive years of top 12 finishes at Masters.

Rory McIlroy (second selection this year) — There are five players with three consecutive years of top 25 finishes at Augusta. Among those players, McIlroy has done the best averaging 11th.

Justin Thomas (second selection this year) — Thomas has done very well here but he has never cracked the top ten. This season he’s finished 8th, 12th and 2nd. He’s 3rd in OWGR and 5th in total strokes gained, this might be the year he cracks the top 10 here.

Jason Day (first selection this year) — Day finished 22nd here three years ago. He improved to 20th in 2018 and then 5th last year. He struggled earlier this season with a missed cut and withdrawing from Shadow Creek but he had a strong push at the Vivint Houston Open last week coming in ready for the Masters.

My Bench 2

Jordan Spieth (first selection this year) — After McIlroy, the next best of those four is Jordan Spieth who has two top 12 finishes in 2017 and 2018 before finishing 21st last year. He has struggled a bit this season with three missed cuts in five tournaments.

Jon Rahm (first selection this year) — One of three golfers with top 10 finishes here each of the last two years, Rahm has finished in the top 25 each tournament this season. He’s top 15 in strokes gained off the tee, tee to green and total.

Fun Fact: Every winner here since 1999 is expected to be in the field this week with the exception of Sergio Garcia (2017) who tested positive for Covid-19.

2020-2021 Stats

Starting 4: avg finish 38^th (30^th percent)
Bench 2: avg finish 60^th (47th percent)